Wandering Sword begins during a time of great unrest. After a few cut scenes you take control of Yuwen Yi, a warrior leading a small convoy. Speak to Li Qiuyue, the woman to the right of the carriage, and she'll suggest giving the carriage's passenger some water. Speak to your other two companions as well, then approach the carriage again to trigger another cut scene...
... which leads to a confrontation. You're given a small option, but it doesn't get Yi anywhere. Fortunately, the passenger in the carriage is more than capable of cleaning up.
Combat
Combat in Wandering Sword is carried out on a grid. Each character has two colored meters above their head. The top meter (green for your characters, red for enemies) indicates that character's current HP, while the bottom meter (yellow) indicates their Qi. Once the Qi bar fills up that character can take their turn. Each character also has MP that is used for special attacks.
To attack enemies you need to physically move your characters up to them. The range of a characters' movement is indicated by the four-sided diamond that surrounds the active combatant. Once your character has moved they can choose an action. Your actions also have a range of effect, though these will vary from attack to attack.
Your attack types are displayed at the bottom of the screen, and are broken down into different types of swordplay. Wudang Swordplay (the far left option) is what most RPGs would consider a 'normal' attack, and uses no MP... but also has the lowest range. Other attack options have additional effects, longer range, and are typically more powerful, but use up MP. Hover over the different types of swordplay to see what your character's equipped Skill can do. Once used a Skill will need a few turns to recharge before you can use it again.
When attacking it is important to choose your characters' placement strategically. If you attack an opponent from the sides or the rear - especially the rear - they will take more damage than normal. The flip side of running behind an enemy is that you're usually exposing yourself to their allies, who can slip in behind your character and do more damage. Don't go for these opportunistic strikes unless you're confident that your party member won't get mauled.
One final thing for now: There will be times when you just don't want your character to do anything. if this is the case - or if you wanted to attack without moving, or move without attacking - you can use the Compose button on the right side of your Skills. This will end that character's turn, restoring some of their HP and MP.
During this tutorial battle you're given control of Master Qingxu, who is way stronger than his opponents. Follow the tutorial by moving to the left, then choose Mighty Move, the third Skill from the left. This will allow Qingxu to target the Tianlong Gang Disciple a few squares away. He'll go down in a single hit.
The rest of the battle is up to you, though it's a piece of cake. If you want to mess around with Skills a bit more you can use Lightness to give Qingxu greater mobility, then dance around the enemies and pick them off one-by-one. This is hardly necessary, however, as they don't stand a chance ofdepleting Qingxu's HP. The quickest way through the fight is to let your enemies bunch up around Qingxu, then use his Unique Move (fourth Skill from the left) to wallop them all in a single hit.
Defeat your foes and the caravan will be saved... for about five seconds. Bad things happen, and by the time you regain control you'll be in a very different place.